At the beginning of every year I make a copy of my last year’s photo album, enlarge it, and add the text of all the kid-related posts from that year. I include all the Dear Marshall, Dear Livia, Marshall Says, and Livia Says posts, plus excerpts from other posts that mention the kids. I often have pictures that go along with the stories, so it works really well in that way. But it’s a lot of text, and it resists being squeezed into the photo album format.
I have been working on the big 2014 album for weeks. There were also several posts that I needed to complete (and backdate) so that they could be included. It’s a good thing I’ve learned to backdate posts without any guilt. Otherwise some of them would never get written.
Today I finished the last post that I wanted to include in the album. I still have some other 2014 posts that I’d like to complete, but it doesn’t matter when (or even if) I write them. The number of posts in my draft folder is now down to its average of 12, so I feel like I’ve also officially decluttered the blog. Whew!
The photo album will now sit for a few weeks, giving me time to forget everything I did with it, so that I’ll be able to look at it with a fresh pair of eyes. As the photographer, designer, writer, editor, and typesetter, I probably made some mistakes. So when I put on my proofreading hat, I want to be able to find them!
But all that matters for right now is that I’m done. Done, done, done. Done!
Congratulations! That’s a big thing to cross off your to-do list!
Now the only question is what I should do next. I have a long to-do list!